Archive for December, 2007

The secret door in Harry Potter author, J.K.Rowling’s official site, or better known as the Room of Requirement has opened again!

This time it has no tricks whatsoever. Just click on the doorknob to swing open the door.

On her desk, there’s a piece of paper with the Dark Mark sign on it, which means ‘spoilers ahead’!

Click on the paper, and it will show up.

The Weasley family tree is shown on the paper, clearly written and illustrated by JKR.

The family tree starts with Molly and Arthur Weasley, who got married and gave birth to 7 kids.

The oldest of the seven, Bill, married Fleur Delacour during the times of Deathly Hallows and gave birth to 3 kids, Victoire, Dominique and Louis.

Charlie, the second son, is still a bachelor, unmarried. Possibly Dumbledore the second…? One only can wonder. 🙂

The rebellious third son, Percy married a girl named Audrey and had 2 kids, Molly and Lucy. Molly is most likely named after his mother.

The twins, Fred and George were the 4th and 5th sons. Fred died in a battle in Deathly Hallows. George who survived the war but lost an ear, married Angelina Johnson, a former Gryffindor Quidditch player, and had kids named Fred (after his twin brother) and Roxanne.

One of the series’ main character, Ron, naturally tied the knot with best friend and lover Hermione Granger, and had kids Rose and Hugo, who were mentioned in Deathly Hallows.

Draco Malfoy was also in the picture, he married Asteria Greengrass, sister to Daphne Greengrass, who was mentioned briefly in the first book, Philosopher’s Stone. They had a son named Scorpius Hyperion, who was also shown in Deathly Hallows.

Luna Lovegood is in the diagram as well. She married Rolf Scamander, who was the grandson of Newt Scamander, and had 2 kids, Lorcan and Lysander.

I like that JK cleared all these for us. It really is nice to see them all with kids. 🙂 I still ship Harry/Hermione though. XD

(All links lead to HP Lexicon, the best and most complete HP resource site there is)

Sorry for this short recap! I’m quite busy these days, and another trip is coming up soon!

Briefly what happened:

Still in New Zealand.

Teams filled their cars with gas to get their next clue.

Henry & Terri’s car bumped into Ann & Diane’s car.

Teams go water sledging.

Marc & Rovilson in the lead by a mile.

Teams must drive a powered boat around an obstacle course on the sea, one driving, one directing.

Roadblock: take a mud bath in a geothermal reserve to find their clue.

Pamela found her clue, but didn’t have enough strength to pull it out. Henry took the chance and grabbed it instead.

Sophie & Aurelia started the race.

Detour: Flax or Sticks

Flax: do traditional Maori weaving.

Sticks: do a traditional Maori dance which requires teams to throw sticks back and forth from each other in a certain matter.

Henry & Terri debated on which task to do, going back and forth between tasks. Terri got fed up with both and wanted to quit. After Henry’s incredible patience and crooning, they finished the Flax challenge.

First 7 teams checked in with Allan Wu.

The standings: (> UP ; < DOWN ; = SAME)

Marc & Rovilson =

Adrian & Collin =

Paula & Natasha >

Ann & Diane <

Daichi & Sawaka >

Pam & Van >

Henry & Terri <

ELIMINATED: Sophie & Aurelia

Sophie & Aurelia missed the hours of operation for the water sledging challenge, and were given automatic elimination.

Saleisha Stowers aka winner of America’s Next Top Model 9 has been dubbed with another nickname! And she may be in deep trouble.

This time it’s a pretty fair name, referring to the ‘scandal’ that Saleisha has broke the rules of ANTM by winning Cycle 9. Saleisha had past modelling experience, been on a runway in Cycle 6 of ANTM, been on a Wendy Burger’s commercial, been on TV hit show Ugly Betty and even fashioned on Tyra Bank’s own talk show!

I know, you may brag about her not being as good as fellow competitors (eg Heather, Jenah) portfolio-wise, but it’s the fact that her participation in ANTM9 doesn’t follow the criteria that were given in order to enter the competition.

I have a nasty feeling that this will brew up a huge, buzzing controversy and smear Tyra, Saleisha and ANTM’s faces. Maybe Cycle10 may not even continue. Or maybe Saleisha will be stripped from her title and it will be passed on to Chantal, the runner up?

Of course, as usual, the videos: (huge thanks to 888772, the most amazing and fastest uploader there is!)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Recaps:

A new cycle, 13 girls, some taking to a new heights, some failing miserably!

3 girls remain!

The bubbly rumbly in my tummy blonde, Chantal!

Saleisha! The confident girl with all the past modelling experience she needs to win this! OMG OMG!!

The photogenic tomboy, Jenah!

—-

TyraMail! “Show me your flava!”

Chantal, “It’s CoverGirl flavour lip glosses!” Oh right on.

Saleisha, “I’m in the top 3!” Great job on stating the obvious.

Jenah, “If we [she and Saleisha] lands in the bottom 2 tomorrow, I think I’ll be going home.” Spoilers!!

The girls went to their CoverGirl shoot. This time they are shooting the ad for CG’s Wet Slick Fruit Spritzers lip gloss.

Draglene Jaslene appeared out of no where to give the girls an extra boost of confidence. Chantal loved her and wanted to be in her shoes, literally.

Chantal was first. She looked gorgeous in a yellow dress. She was advertising the lemon flavoured lip gloss, Lemon Splash. She read her lines a little too fake, making Jay to go, “I’m reading lines! I’m a dumb model!” XD That was hilarious. She pulled it off in the end.

Jenah was next in a hot pink dress. She went silent as soon as the camera’s rolled. After sevaral silent attempts, Jay wanted her to read from cue cards. Jenah disagreed, stating that cue card signifies weakness. Jenah picked herself up and gave a great take, making Jay happy, but he said her insecurity came across as bitchyness.

Saleisha came out in an orange gown, her hair looked weird, hiding behind her ears, and her face was incredibly red. She stumbled, and cried. She had 17 takes. (Where are the cue cards!) Saleisha took Tyra’s advice (to Lisa, not you!) and cried all she want and got over with it. She dried her eyes and did her ad.

After the commercial, there was a photoshooot, as usual.

Saleisha took her pics with the oranges! She even wanted to eat one of it. I wonder if the orange ever got angry and squirted some juice into her eyes.

Chantal did her job with her lemon.

Jenah was last with her little red strawberry.

—-

Judging time!

Tyra showed up in another Chantal-haircut. The winner will be stomping in a QiGong fashion show.

Tyra shot a surprise quiz at the girls. Who has the most and least potential?

Surprisingly, Saleisha answers herself for the most potential, and Jenah for least because of her attitude.

Chantal went next, saying she has the most potential “hands down”, with Jenah the least because she isn’t the role model for her sisters.

Jenah was last, stating she has the most potential, and that her lay back attitude can be CoverGirl as well, not necessarily the happy bubbly type. The least was Chantal for being amatuer.

Tangerine Splash girl, Saleisha was judged first. Nigel was impressed, (DUH) because she kept smiling while blabbering talking. Tyra stated that her pronunciation wasn’t great at times. They liked her photo, but she only has one smile.

Jenah went last. Tyra said that she made fun of the product by biting the fruit. Jenah hated that she’s always misunderstood and she doesn’t have to create rainbows and ponies and bunnies to make her approachable, because Jenah is Jenah. Go Jenah!

Tyra thought that Jenah has a shield up to protect herself, and broke Jenah down. Tyra liked that the hardcore Jenah showed vulnerability, which is more humanly than making barriers for herself. The judges loved her photo.

—-

The CoverGirl commercial is shown, playing mostly Chantal and Saleisha parts, and placing Saleisha in the end. Spoilers!!

—-

Deliberation.

Saleisha is praised for being CG. Her high fashion self is doubted.

The judges liked that Jenah showed her vulnerability and cried. Nigel thought she sincerely meant it. (DUH) Her portfolio is praised.

Chantal is credited for her flexibility and having the whole package.

Roll call!

First name…

Chantal.

*past spoilers shattered into pieces*

Bottom 2:

Saleisha vs Jenah

Tyra said Saleisha had unfair advantage because of her past experience, (DUH) but Jenah stomped her left, right, up and down with her stunning portfolio. But Saleisha’s charm held her on.

For Jenah, she rivaled the current top models for her pictures.

And it’s…

Saleisha.

*past spoilers shattered into pieces once more*

Bye Jenah. *sobs*

—-

The top 2 do their Seventeen Magazine photoshoot. Saleisha looked amazingly like Rihanna, who also appeared on Seventeen previously. Spoilers!!

—-

Poof!

They arrived at the Forbidden City. Their runway will be the space near the historic landmark, and they had to take their garments and modernize it into the 21st century.

Jaslene is doing makeup with her legs wide wide open, (o.0) still carrying that fan she used a few minutes earlier.

Tyra came in with her very odd hairstyle, and encouraged the girls.

Lots of people in Ching-dynasty clothes appeared by the runway.

The first to stroll down the runway was…

Miss J!

Oh wow! He’s a finalist! Who knew?

Twiggy and Nigel came out after him, trying to “steal” the show with their “sexiness”.

Miss Tyra came out last, with a giant monster umbrella behind her, trying to gobble her up I guess. Tyra nodded and 500 zombies followed her command to sit.

Jaslene walked down, fierce!

Saleisha went after that and ruled the runway. I think she had more air and presence than Jaslene did. Her walk was amazing.

Chantal’s walk was a little stiff, but her face was strong.

On her third walk, her incredibly long dress tripped a stilt walker, and the poor guy fell flat on his bum. Chantal OMGed a tiny bit but continued her walk. Best and most entertaining part of the show I have to say.

Models clap. Show was done.

—-

Last judging!

Tyra recited the prizes for the last time. Tyra introduced the judges for the last time.

The judges reviewed the girls’ portfolios.

First pic: Negative effects of smoking.

Nigel loved Chantal’s. Saleisha was given kudos for doing a good job with Heather on their shoot.

Knock knock!

Who’s there?

Hair!

Hair who?

[Hair]Heather should be in the final 2!!

Next pic: Gargoyle on a roof.

Chantal’s was praised to be high fashion.

Last pic: Warriors on the Great Wall.

Saleisha: Twiggy said it was her fav pic in Cycle 9. (seriously?)

Chantal: Dominated the shoot.

Runway walk.

Chantal: Stiff walk, but nice stride.

Saleisha: Owned the runway.

Said Twiggy, “Saleisha you looked like you’ve been on the runway for all your life.”

Hello?! *smacks head*

—-

Last deliberation!

Miss J stated that the 2 most commercial girls in the competition got to the final 2, but Chantal was more high fashion material.

Twiggy said that Chantal has an edge body-wise.

Nigel BARKer BARKed back at Twiggy saying Saleisha has full control of her body.

PS: Check back for a special post-ANTM entry!

The finale is finally here! Cycle 9 has got to be one of my favourite cycles, with the exception of disappointing eliminations.

Let’s look back on the eliminated girls:

Week 1: Mila

Ever optimist Lyudmila, aka Mila. Described by the others girls as “cheerful, bubbly”. Her quote: “If you focus on the good things, the bad things go away.”

Photoshoot Eliminated: Negative Effects of SmokingReason of Elimination: Not serious on the photoshoot

++++

Week 2: Kimberly

Not much to say about Kimberly as she went off early. According to the others, she’s a great, friendly girl. Tyra loved her ears, saying that it was her best feature.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Rock climbing shootReason of Elimination: Weakest photo of the bunch, can’t bring her high fashion look into her photos

++++

Week 3: Victoria

The smarts beauty. “Loved” back-talking Twiggy to defend herself. Described as Twiggy to have a “prickly personality”. Her early elimination lead to anger of many fans, saying she was robbed. Her cactus photo was later photoshopped to show no necklines, which angered fans even more.

The oldest of all the girls. Adored by the others for being the “mama” of the house. Very charming personality. Her last photo was not photoshopped, revealing her white undies, which showed the unfairness of the show. Fourth white girl in a row to be eliminated. One of my favs.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Gargoyle on the RoofReason of Elimination: Weak photos

++++

Week 5: Ebony

The tough, mean girl at the start of the competition, then became the nice, sweet girl in the house. Cracked under pressure and started to became homesick. The second girl in ANTM history to quit the competition. First black girl to be sent home in this cycle. Another of my favs.

The only plus size girl, who later was said by the judges to “lose weight”, but actually didn’t. Famously ran around the house nude when her towel was snatched away by Jenah. Nice personality. One of the dumbest reasons of elimations ever in ANTM.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Enrique Iglesias “Tired Of Being Sorry” Music VideoReason of Elimination: Insecure of her body weight, her body size “unstable” in the fashion industry.

++++

Week 7: Ambreal

Ambreal was the happy go lucky girl in the house. She is very religious, and was given a second chance when Ebony quit. Determined to prove herself to the judges that she had what it takes.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Burning Car In The DesertReason of Elimination: Not model-ish enough

++++

Week 8: Lisa

The tallest girl in this cycle. Lisa was an exotic dancer before the show, and got into the first fight in Cycle 9 with Bianca. The first girl sent packing in Shanghai, China. Lisa earned the “CoverGirl of the Week” title in the first week before it was snatched away by Heather.

Undoubtedly one of the most popular girl in ANTM history. Heather has an illness called Aspergers, which affects her in public speaking and eye contact. She is also an artist. Heather was underestimated at first, but proved herself when she got many early call outs and great photos. She fainted in the music video production due to dehydration and lack of sleep. Heather is the current holder of the CoverGirl of The Week title, breaking the record for holding it 9 weeks in a row, even after she is eliminated. She is already attracting a lot of media attention, being on many magazine covers and interviews. Cycle 10’s new judge, Paulina Porizkova stated that Heather is her favourite on the show. Heather is definitely the one that will go far, and is my personal fav in this cycle. Despite having the strongest portfolio in the competition along with Jenah, Heather was sent home for only going to one go-see.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Standing Out In A CrowdReason of Elimination: Lack Of Communication Skills

++++

Week 10: Bianca

Bianca was probably the second most ‘in’famous girl after Heather in Cycle 9. Bianca was always the one who gets into catfights, talked bad about the girls in her confessionals, backstabbed her friends in challenges, and had picked on almost every girl in the house. Bianca had improved gradually since the beginning, won the go-see challenge, and showed that she was a fierce competitor. But she was eventually eliminated due to her inability to be more versatile as a model.

Photoshoot Eliminated: Warriors on the Great Wall Of ChinaReason of Elimination: Not being model material

++++

Three girls remain!

1. Chantal

The “dumb” blonde who knows that fashion is what she wants and dreams of, and holds on to it for dear life. A worthy receiver for this cycle’s “Most Improved”. Is she fierce enough to grab the trophy?

++++

2. Saleisha

The girl who is every judge’s favourite, and has progressed far since the beginning. A member of Tyra’s T-Zone camp leads to suspicion of favoritism. She has past modelling experience and was in several ads and national campaigns, so is she worthy to get the title of being ANTM, or did she cheated her way in?

++++

3. Jenah

The girl with the strongest portfolio throughout this competition along with Heather, having some of the best photos. Her quirky remarks and “sarcasm” doesn’t get along well with the judges, and her homesickness and stress is starting to strain her. Will she pick herself up to win ANTM9?

++++

My bets are that Saleisha will most likely win, but I’m definitely rooting for Jenah. Another few more hours and we’ll find out who will be….